The use of devices to retrieve items that are not reachable in the water is not new to the art. Some examples of retrieval devices include U.S. Pat. No. 7,832,105 issued to Vogel on Nov. 16, 2010; entitled “Water Plant Removal Tool” which describes a manually operated cutting tool that is pulled across the surface of water to cut weeds. The device is inferior to the present device because it has to have an additional component added to become buoyant.
The current device floats and can have fingers that extend both upward and downward to retrieve objects that are partially afloat, such as waterfowl. This prior art device also has cutting blades to cut vegetation whereas the present invention is for retrieval only.
Another prior art device that is used to retrieve vegetation from the bed of a lake is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,748,728 issued to Hay on Jun. 15, 2004, entitled “Rake System and Method for Removing Underwater Vegetation. This device is pulled along the lake bed to remove and retrieve weeds.
Another device for retrieving floating objects is U.S. Pat. No. 7,677,620 issued to Tasey on Mar. 16, 2010, entitled “Disc Retrieving Apparatus” that discloses a telescopic handle rake to retrieve objects from water. The device is seriously limited, in that, you can only retrieve items within reach of the handle.